


A trip to memory lane

by Sardon



Series: Sardon's stories [4]
Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, POV Animal, Past Memories, Phobias, Superstition, flies, good memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-08 23:12:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4324437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sardon/pseuds/Sardon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Emily extras that she didn't want you to see .<br/>Chapter 1 summary = The story of how Emily found a permanent home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Behind closed doors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asparagusmama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asparagusmama/gifts), [owlbsurfinbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlbsurfinbird/gifts).



> A big thank you to RickardoTheAvacardo for letting me publish my Emily stories and for also beta reading my Emily works to help me get her character just right. 
> 
> A gift for Asparagusmama and Owlbsurfinbird for their lovely comments on the original Emily series by RickardoTheAvacardo.
> 
> This chapter is set at Christmas time and i know its nowhere near Christmas but that is not the point of the story.

_December 19th was a severely cold and windy night, bins were knocked over and tumbling down the roads and pavements which caused mountains of rubbish to zoom across the street as if to get away from the chaos. The heavy rain hit the roads so violently that it was practically washing the streets just like an over flooded river. The wind was blowing so viciously that the trees were beginning to have the same posture as the leaning tower of Pisa_

_Out of nowhere there was a huge splash of a puddle and a screech of a car, followed by two burly men that emerged from the car._

_“Dump it over here” said one of the men in a low gravelly voice. The other man tossed something which looked like a box at the side of someone’s house, just a few meters away from their doorstep. One of the men grabbed the box and hid it under a bush near the house then jogged back into the car._

_The car engine then started up, speeding off into darkness._

________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning everyone in the street woke up to the monstrosity that the storm had left behind. There were massive puddles dotted around the roads and grass. There were signs that some people had left their washing hanging up outside during the storm as there seemed to be a sock hanging on a bush and a pyjama top that was drenched in water as it was found lying in one of the massive puddles in the road.

Meanwhile an elderly woman was in her living room looking out of her window, observing the mess that lay in view of everyone who lived there.

“Bloody hell that was a record breaker of a storm last night”

Another woman of the same age appeared in the living room. “I know I couldn’t sleep a wink, I do have to feel sorry for the people down the road, their house got completely flooded”

“Oh my we must check on them later” The first elderly woman declared. She glanced at her watch and tutted.

“Jill can you check if the milk man has been yet?” The elderly woman called out.

“Alright” was Jill’s reply.

Jill opened the door and saw that the milkman had not yet been round, she was about to go in until she heard a faint squeaking sound. She listened out for where the sound was coming from; soon enough she figured out it was coming from the bush. Jill put her hand near the bush and rustled around until she found a medium sized box, carefully opening it she found 8 kittens huddling together and shaking violently.

“Maureen!” Jill called out.

 _Oh for heaven sake_ Maureen muttered to herself. “Don’t tell me you have dropped the milk bottle again!”

“No Maureen look!” Jill brought in the box and placed it on the living room table.

Maureen looked at the box with caution. “Well open it then!” Maureen said impatiently.

Jill opened the box and all the kittens squeaked but stopped shaking as the warmth of the house suddenly got to them.

“Where did you find them?” Maureen questioned.

“Under that bush near the doorstep” Jill replied.

Maureen took a closer look at the kittens and picked up one of them, this kitten was pure white and had blue eyes. “I think we shall keep this one” Maureen said kindly.

“She has pretty eyes” Jill added.

“She shall be named Crystal” Maureen announced without giving Jill time to either approve or disapprove.

“What about the rest?” Jill asked.

“We will take them to the blue cross to get them re homed” Maureen replied.

Jill looked at the remaining kittens in the box; her eyes were suddenly fixed on the single black kitten.

“Oh god, there is a black kitten in there!” Jill cried.

“Is that a problem?” Maureen questioned angrily

“Black cats are bad luck Maureen!” Jill exclaimed.

“Oh for heaven sake, I do wish you would stop believing in these silly superstitions” Maureen retorted.

“But that’s something I have always believed in” Jill explained in a small voice.

“Honestly you’re just as bad as those who believe that garlic protects you from evil spirits!” Maureen shouted.

“I-“Jill was interrupted by Maureen’s final sentence.

“Right I’m off to the blue cross to get these kittens away from you and your superstitions!” Maureen said angrily before walking off and slamming the door. Jill was then left in her own misery, while Crystal looked at Jill as if she was disgusted with her.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Approaching the blue cross Maureen said under her breath _hopefully these people will have more common sense._

“Can I help you?” A young blonde woman named Sasha asked at the reception.

“Yes, now these kittens were found near my door step at nine this morning and I came to bring them in”

“Thank you so much” Sasha said as she took the box from Maureen and looked inside.

“They are a mixed litter” Maureen told Sasha who looked content at the sight of the kittens, but her facial expression soon changed when she saw the single black kitten.

“Oh dear, you know that black cats are the least likely to get a home” Sasha sighed.

“Oh, whys that? “ Maureen said in a disapproving tone.

“Superstition” Maureen felt her face grow hot of pure anger, she looked as if she was about to slap Sasha. Her next sentence stopped the temptation.

“I think it’s all a heap of crap but there are many people who do believe in that kind of rubbish”

Maureen’s facial expression softened. “Yes well, those people are fools” Maureen replied.

Sasha smiled. “Thanks again for bringing them to us” she said in a light tone.

Before walking off Maureen asked if she could say goodbye to the kittens. Sasha nodded.

Maureen picked them up one by one, to the black kitten she whispered _good luck little one_ before putting it down and handing the box to Sasha. Maureen took one more look back before walking back to her car and driving off.

________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile at the nick James and Robbie were sat in their office, going through paper work.

James looked up from his paper work, utterly bored at the sight of it. A question suddenly popped into his head.

“What are your plans for Christmas sir"? James asked genuinely.

“I’m going up to Manchester to see Lyn; she has been asking me for the last three weeks, none stop”.

Before James could reply one of the constables walked in.“Hello sir, I know this might not interest you but there was an advertisement in the local post office the other day about giving a kitten a home for Christmas”.

“Aye, where are these kittens from exactly?”

“The blue cross down the road” the constable replied.

When the constable had left the room, Robbie turned to James.

“Kittens eh, why don’t you take a look round there, you never know a kitten might just grow on you enough to give it a home”. Robbie said.

“Hm” was James’s reply.

Robbie sighed. “Come on James, were done for the day” Robbie said as he shuffled the paperwork into one neat pile. James did the same with his own paperwork and followed Robbie out of the room.

“Have a nice holiday sir” James said as Robbie got into his car.

“Have a good holiday as well James” Robbie replied before driving off.

While driving home James found himself driving near the blue cross, Robbie’s words were now repeating themselves in his head. _Why don’t you take a look round there, you never know a kitten might just grow on you enough to give it a home_. Those words were trapped in his mind and they wouldn’t budge.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a look” James said to himself. He parked his car and walked over to the reception.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

However the last two days that the black kitten was at the blue cross, her hope of getting re homed was becoming smaller as each hour passed.

The litter of seven kittens including her at first remained the same, as the hours went by the amount of kittens in the litter decreased dramatically.

The two ginger kittens were the first to be snapped up by a middle aged woman, claiming that ginger cats were her favorite. Also there was a black and white kitten that got taken the very next hour by an old man who said that he wanted his daughter to have something special for Christmas.

The next day the Tortoiseshell cat was the first one to be picked up and taken the very second by a little girl who said the cat was pretty. After a few hours a teenage man did actually take a look at me but then decided to go for one of the tabby cats instead.

Now it just left me and the other tabby cat.

After being told where the kittens were kept James went over to look at the two kittens that were left.

James looked at the tabby kitten first which was sleeping, his attention then turned to the black kitten and his first thought was how green its eyes were. The black kitten squeaked and James saw himself trying to stroke the kitten’s ear through the metal bars. The kitten purred and closed its eyes.

Almost an hour later James gave the kitten a tiny smile before leaving, the kittens eyes widened as if it was saying _no, no please don’t leave._

The following day all James could think about was the small kitten. To try to pass the time away James being James found himself doing research about black cats and superstitions. He clicked on a website about black cats and he scrolled down and on the page James read out.

_A black cat crossing ones path by moonlight on the street means bad luck or even death._

James then went on to another website.

_It is considered bad luck if you walk under a ladder when a black cat has walked under it first. Also it is bad luck if you meet or if a black cat turns its back to you in the street._

At that point James had decided that he’d had enough. He switched off his computer and tried to think of something else, the image of the tiny black cat never finding a home was bugging James more every minute.

__________________________________________________________

The black kitten hadn’t forgotten the blonde haired man’s visit yesterday. As every moment passed the cat’s hope of the man coming back were getting thinner.

Half an hour later two adults and a young boy walked to where the final two kittens were. The little boy was staring at them both and what the young boy blurted out shocked the black kitten.

“I want the tabby!” the boy said then added “The black ones ugly and its bad luck” the boy spat out. The tabby cat was removed from the cage and put into the hands of the little boy and he screamed with laughter.

Once they left, the black kitten was isolated in the cage now left wondering if it will ever find a home.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It was now three o clock in the afternoon and the image of the kitten was still fresh in his head. Robbie’s words had also come back to haunt him. _y_ _ou never know a kitten might just grow on you enough to give it a home._

 

“I think you were right all along Robbie “James said truthfully to himself. James had now had enough of this; he was going to give that kitten a home.

James drove back to the blue cross and made his way to where the kitten was but before he did one of the staff members said “There is only one kitten left sir”. James’s heart was pounding; he truly hoped that the black kitten was still there.

He raced over to the cage and he was relieved that the black kitten still remained there. James took the kitten out of the cage, despite a sign saying that he wasn’t supposed to but no one was around to see.

He picked up the kitten and held it close to him. At first the kitten squeaked but to his surprise it then snuggled up to his chest and closed its eyes.

James stroked its head before saying “let’s get you home”.

One of the staff saw him holding the kitten. “Did you not read the sign, nobody is allowed to take the kittens out of the cage apart from a member of staff” she said firmly.

“Yes I can read, but I am taking this kitten to be re homed “James replied calmly.

The staff member looked shocked. “Are you sure that is the kitten you want, there are plenty others in the other cages if you would prefer-“

She was cut off by James’s reply. “This is the kitten I want to re home so this is the kitten I will take home” James retorted angrily.

The staff member sighed and said “Let’s get you sorted then” she didn’t say anything else for the rest of the time.

 

As James was walking out of the blue cross, he saw an elderly woman walk up to him and smile.

“Oh I see you have just re homed a kitten” she said in a light tone.

“Yes, once I saw her I couldn’t refuse” was James’s simple sentence.

The woman smiled again before saying “I was the one who took the kittens here in the first place”.

“In that case thank you” James replied

Before the woman walked away she whispered to the kitten _enjoy your new home sweetie._

 

After sorting out the kittens food and litter tray James sat down with the kitten trying to decide on a name.

He looked up popular names for a black cat but they were too boring for him. He carefully looked at the kitten and out of nowhere he blurted out the name Emily.

The kitten meowed for the first time since he had brought it home. “You agree with that suggestion “James said to the kitten softly.

The kitten just blinked at him. “Okay then I’ll call you Emily”. The kitten meowed again showing its agreement.

At that moment it had reminded James of a quote.

_It’s important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy._


	2. Tree hugger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the first time Emily meets Robbie properly, Emily manages to get herself in a bit of a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention on the first chapter that this is beta read by MissionImpossible.

Emily was sat by the window sill; watching two birds flying together and hearing them tweet endlessly. Whenever one of the birds moved Emily tilted her head while making little meowing noises.

James watched Emily with relaxed eyes, observing her reactions to the birds and chuckling quietly at the little jerks and noises she made when the bird watching got exciting.

James quickly glanced at his watch and was on his feet making his dinner that very second. Emily took no notice of James leaving the room as bird watching had taken up all her attention.

An hour later the food was prepared and the white wine which had been sitting on the desktop was now being carefully poured into two wine glasses. Emily, who was still perched by the window sill, had smelt the food which was proving to be a distraction as she couldn’t decide what was more interesting. But eventually the birds had won her attention as they began to tweet again.

Five minutes later the doorbell rang which startled Emily into leaving her bird watching tournament, jumping off the window sill she gave herself a quick clean as if she wanted to look her best for the visitor.

Emily soon heard talking after the door was calmly shut. James came into the living room followed by an older person who was a little bit shorter than James. The visitor sat down on one side of the sofa, Emily just glared at him as if she was thinking _hey that’s my seat!_ This was true as whenever it was just her and James in the house Emily always sat on the left side of the sofa while James sat on the right.

The visitor soon turned his attention to Emily. All he did was look at her and that was enough for Emily to get irritated. It was his sentence about Emily which seemed to irritate Emily the most.

“She has grown a bit” Robbie said genuinely but Emily didn’t seem to take it that way. Instead she gave him an evil look which could have meant _oi! I’m not a plant,I’ll have you know that last time I checked I was a cat._ Unfortunately for Emily the visitor didn’t seem to understand her hint.

“She’s quite a cute cat” Robbie said in the same tone of voice. However Emily still didn’t look impressed.

After a while James and the visitor were chatting about nothing in particular whereas Emily was perched near one corner of the living room, her green eyes fixed on the visitor.

“Would you like a refill Robbie”? James offered.

“Yes please lad” Robbie replied.

Emily watched James walk into the kitchen to pour Robbie another glass of wine. A whirl wind of thoughts had entered Emily’s head. _Ah, the visitors name is Rob-bie and since when did James change his name to lad?_

When James had returned with his and Robbie’s glasses of wine Emily looked as if she was planning something in her mind. Little did the two men know that Emily was going to take her plan into action.

When James had gone to sort out the finishing touches to their meal Emily decided that it was time to annoy Robbie.

Unexpected to Robbie Emily jumped up on to his lap but wouldn’t sit down, instead she kept moving on to his chest then back to his lap while purring at full volume. Whenever Robbie tried to talk to James Emily would block his way by moving her head so Robbie couldn’t see James’s face. If he did try to move his head Emily would move her head in the same direction. Emily was more than startled when she was removed from Robbie’s lap by James, she gave him a sour look which could have meant _do you mind!_

Emily perched herself on the coffee table as James and Robbie sat down at the living room table to eat the meal that James had cooked for them.

As both the men were eating all Emily could bring herself to do was to stare at both of the men, her eyes were particularly focused on Robbie, hating the fact that he seemed to be stealing James away from her.

Fed up with being ignored Emily decided to make an appearance but her appearance was more dramatic than planned. She was crouching down and getting her pouncing action just right, unknown to both of the men Emily leaped on to the table but clearly unaware of the mess she was about to cause as she dragged the table cloth forward, even though Robbie had managed to save his dinner, James’s dinner on the other hand got tossed all over his plain grey t-shirt and on the front of his jeans along with the remaining half of the white wine that was in the wine bottle.

James jumped out of his seat, horrified at the mess of food that was now spread out all over the floor. James’s eyes darted around the floor then himself, clearly embarrassed of how untidy he now looked and Emily’s eyes had widened and let out a little meow as if she was apologising. However all James could do was fix his eyes on Emily angrily.

“Emily”! He exclaimed . Emily’s eyes looked guilty about what she had done and before James or Robbie could say anything she shot off to the garden.

Ten minutes after the incident James had got a wet cloth and tried to wipe off the gravy stain that had ruined his grey T-shirt. Robbie immediately knew that James would be fussing over it. It was proved when he could hear James quietly mumble to himself.

Hearing James's mumbling Robbie went over to him and held up a hand when James tried to apologise.

“Before you say anything , there is no need to be sorry these things happen”

James did not look or sound convinced and that showed when he said “But the dinner got ruined and I look less than presentable”

Robbie sighed. “Look don’t worry about it , this hasn’t ruined my evening “ James ducked his head. “Now will you put that cloth away, gravy will come out in the wash James, just go get changed”.

James still didn't look fully convinced but he knew arguing wouldn't get him anywhere. Doing as he was told, James flung the cloth in the sink and went upstairs to get changed into clean clothes.

________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile Emily was sat in the garden on her favourite spot of grass, desperately trying to forget about the recent accident that she had caused.

Out of nowhere a bird started to fly around near where Emily was sat, Emily’s ears perked up at the sound of the birds tweeting. Her eyes were quickly moving from side to side, fascinated of how the bird was able to fly so fast without making a wrong move or stopping.

The bird circled Emily again before flying over to the fence and looked at her as if it wanted Emily to follow.

Fed up with feeling sorry for herself, temptation had taken her over as she ran up to the bird which flew over to next doors bench. Emily soon climbed over the fence and leaped on to the bench, the bird escaped again and tweeted as if it was laughing at her.

At this point Emily’s eyes were beginning to show irritation, the bird suddenly flew up a tree and without thinking of the possible consequences Emily instantly followed the bird by rushing up the tree and swinging her paw to where the bird was perched. The bird flew away the second Emily’s paw swished round, Emily on the other hand felt the branch she was on wobble and make a creaking noise which frightened her.

The bird tweeted for the final time and looked at Emily in such a way that it could have been saying _serves you right._

Emily glared at the bird, she tried to whack it with her paw but the bird was too far away and the branch wobbled too much. The bird made its exit while Emily soon realised that she was too high up to be able to get down by herself. When she had to bring herself to look down she began to shake and meow repeatedly which was her way of shouting for help.

After five minutes of nonstop meowing, one of the next door neighbours came out of her back garden door to see Emily sat on the branch shaking and hearing her let out a strangled meow. She rushed back inside and out of her front door to knock on James’s door.

James had just come down from getting changed when he heard a knock on his door.

“I didn’t know you were expecting more company” Robbie said.

“I’m not” was James’s confused reply.

James opened his front door to see his next door neighbour Jackie. The last time Jackie had knocked on his door when was she came to complain that Emily had knocked over all her new plants as well as doing her business in the middle of her garden.

“What has Emily done now”? James asked calmly

“She has got herself stuck up a tree “Jackie replied with a hint of panic in her voice.

“Shit” James said under his breath before racing to the garden.

Robbie followed James to the garden and they both saw Emily high up in the tree still meowing constantly.

“She has been meowing the whole village down” Jackie said, now back in her garden.

James ignored her comment, Emily had now stopped meowing and gave James a look which said _you have seen me so instead of just standing there, get me down!_

James was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts when Robbie asked him if he had a ladder, James shook his head.

“I have one you can use” said the other next door neighbour who looked roughly the same age as James.

“Thank you” James replied trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

The extension ladder was soon passed over to James; he then put the ladder near the tree and made sure it was stable.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this, I’m not a bloody fireman” James said under his breath before climbing up the ladder.

“You can’t go up there it’s too dangerous“! Jackie warned. When everyone one who was watching James rescue Emily turned on Jackie, she looked at the floor in embarrassment .

James climbed up the ladder, knowing what could happen if he misjudged a step. The two neighbors and Robbie were all staring at James and Emily, as James got closer to where Emily was James’s breathing began to get a bit heavier, Emily also noticed that sweat was trickling down James’s forehead.

Once James was as near as he could get to Emily he suddenly stopped and took a few deeps breaths to calm himself down before trying to persuade Emily to come down.

Emily meowed loudly at James as if she was trying to tell him to _hurry up please, I don’t want to be stuck up here all night._

One of James’s trembling hands were forced to let go of the ladder rails and to try to grab Emily. Emily jerked back and started to shake again, not knowing whether James was still angry about the earlier incident.

“I think I should call the fire service, it’s obvious that he can’t get that cat down from there” Jackie said rather unhelpfully.

Before James could reply to Jackie’s unwanted comment Robbie beat him to it.

“Look at least he’s trying to get his cat down, and I think he could do without your unhelpful comments so in future I suggest you keep them to yourself!” Robbie retorted.

Jackie stood there in shock, mouth wide open. She didn’t say another word for the rest of the time it took to rescue Emily. James was silently thanking Robbie in his head before focusing his attention to Emily.

Emily didn’t make a sound; all she did was look at James with a distressed facial expression. James suddenly had an idea.

“Robbie could you get me a cat treat”? James called out to Robbie who was heading to the kitchen. Less than a minute later Robbie returned with the cat treat and handed it to James who had come half way down the ladder to get it.

After going back up the ladder, his nerves had kicked in again but this time he had decided to ignore them.

James took one hand of the ladder rails and waved the cat treat in front of Emily. Emily’s eyes were hypnotised by the treat and that was when her brain had told her to cooperate and take the damn treat.

Emily slowly walked over to where James had the cat treat and ate it happily. At that moment James grabbed Emily with one hand, forgetting his nerves he placed Emily on his shoulder before telling Robbie to hold the ladder while he came down.

As James was coming down the ladder he whispered to Emily “Don’t ever do that to me again” which instantly made Emily feel more guilty than before.

The neighbour who had lent James the ladder was now clapping with joy and whistling.

Now James was safely back on the ground Robbie patted his shoulder to say well done. Emily looked as if she was scowling at Robbie.

Robbie stroked Emily’s head before saying “Well Emily certainly hasn’t covered herself in glory today”.

Emily gave him a look which said _oh shut up, stop mocking me!_ Emily wriggled out of James’s arms and walked off into James’s bedroom to avoid any further embarrassment.

James announced that he needed a drink. The two men went back inside and didn’t hear or see another peep out of Emily for the rest of the evening.

_______________________________________________________________________________

When Emily was certain that both men were asleep, she headed to the kitchen to have a drink of water as climbing and getting rescued from a tree was thirsty work.

When she silently came down the stairs she saw Robbie asleep on the sofa. She decided to ignore his presence.

While drinking some water out of her water bowl she heard footsteps coming into the kitchen, she hissed when she realised it was Robbie.

“Hey no need for that” Robbie said quietly as he fussed Emily under her chin, she couldn’t help but lean into the touch.

Robbie opened the cupboard where Emily’s cat things were and took out one of the cat treats that were in a plastic bag.

“I know I shouldn’t do this but one treat won’t hurt” Robbie said as he gave Emily the treat which made Emily purr loudly and rub her face around his legs.

“Come on then” Robbie said as he went back to the sofa or in other words his bed for the night. Emily followed and jumped on to the sofa and curled up on Robbie’s legs.

As Emily closed her eyes she thought to herself _maybe he’s not so bad after all._


	3. Shine a light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the night of a thunderstorm Emily goes missing, while James and Robbie make their own entertainment when Oxford suffers a power cut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written by my sister (GiffGaff). All I did was scribe and post it for her.

Emily was curled up on the brown leather chair when she heard the front door open along with soft footsteps. Emily soon recognised that those footsteps belonged to both James and Robbie. She was so used to the fact that Robbie came round so often that she could now tell the difference between his and James’s footsteps just by the sound.

Both men flung themselves onto the sofa in relief that work was over for yet another day. Emily greeted both men by rubbing her face on James’s face first then Robbie’s. She then curled up in the gap between the two men, stretching her legs as far as possible.

“That cat doesn’t do a bad job of taking up half the sofa” Robbie said genuinely.

James chuckled and Emily gave him a look which could have meant _this is my sofa therefore I can take up as room as I need, besides the leather chair is free to sit on if it bothers you that much._

Emily shoved Robbie with her foot to prove her point.

“I think she disagrees with you there” James replied mockingly.

After James had made Robbie a cup of coffee and a sandwich that they had bought earlier in the day Emily was walking slowly on the floor eating up any crumbs that James and Robbie had dropped on the floor.

Finishing his sandwich Robbie said “You know if Emily was a boy, you should have named her Dyson as she hoovers up any food that has escaped”.

This time James let out a full laugh before saying in a mocking tone “oh you’ve heard of a Dyson have you”.

Robbie rolled his eyes “Yes I do know what a hoover is James, bloody hell man ”.

Emily looked at the two men as if she was laughing at their jokes.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Later on that evening James and Robbie heard a distant rumble of thunder as the sky began to go dark and gloomy.

Unknown to the two men Emily had jumped off the sofa with a bored facial expression and had wondered off, minding her own business.

There was another rumble of thunder but this time it was louder. James was looking out of the window as Robbie said “I didn’t know there was going to be a thunderstorm tonight”.

James’s reply was “well the weather man doesn’t get all his predictions right you know ”.

Before Robbie could reply the rumbling had grown louder along with a flash of lightening and that was when both James and Robbie noticed that Emily was missing.

“Emily” James said calmly, when he didn’t get a response he called Emily’s name louder. Robbie also called Emily twice but she didn’t respond to any of their calls.

“Where is that cat” James muttered as Robbie knew that he would be trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

“She will be around somewhere” Robbie said kindly.

James was about to reply when he and Robbie heard a loud outburst of thunder followed by a bright flash of lightening.

Then without warning the room went pitch black, the radio station they were listening to went silent and neither man could see each other.

“Oh great” James mumbled to himself.

“Do you have a torch lad”? Robbie asked.

“Er yes, I have one somewhere” James replied as he got up to find the torch without a clue of where has was going.

“Ow”! James shouted as he accidentally bumped his head on the door. James had to use his hands to get an idea of where he was walking to without bumping into anything else.

After fifteen minutes of swearing and muttering James had finally found his huge torch and shone it so he could make his way back to the living room.

As James sat down on the sofa Robbie could now with the torch on see that James was slightly trembling, he placed a hand on James’s shoulder and squeezed it gently which startled James.

James then got up again and was about to grab the torch when Robbie stopped him. “What are doing lad”? Robbie asked.

“I need to find Emily”. James was about to leave when Robbie stopped him again.

“Look Emily will be-“Robbie was interrupted by the loud rumble of thunder. “Emily will be fine James, plus I don’t particularly want to be left in the dark, now come and sit down”.

“Sorry sir” was all James could say as he sat down again.

There was another flash of lightening which made James jump and Robbie noticed every detail to James’s reaction.

Robbie laid a hand on James’s shoulder, wanting James to look at him before speaking.

Robbie sighed “James lad we need to talk” was all that Robbie could say at that moment.

James just looked at Robbie, waiting for him to continue.

“James, I don’t think that this has anything to do with you wanting to find Emily, I think that this is about you and a fear of thunderstorms”. Robbie said in a quiet voice.

All James could do was look at Robbie with a facial expression that said _how did you figure that out so quickly?_ Robbie could tell that James’s facial expression wasn’t sarcasm or denial, it was pure honesty.

Another loud rumble of thunder followed by a flash of lightening caught James’s attention for a second before focusing his attention on Robbie.

James looked at Robbie but he didn’t speak as neither man knew what to say.

“Look it’s nothing to be ashamed of, we are all scared of something “. James did not look convinced so Robbie carried on.

“What, did you think that I would think any less of you just because you’re scared of thunderstorms”? Robbie questioned.

“Well... no but you probably think I’m some coward” James mumbled to himself, hoping that Robbie wouldn’t hear him. Unfortunately for James he had heard every word.

“James being scared of something doesn’t make you a coward” Robbie said firmly.

“It does if you have a whole list of things that scare you; it was embarrassing enough when you found out about my Arachnophobia “James said with an awkward edge to his voice.

“Did I mock you about it or laugh at you”? Robbie asked hoping that James would understand why he asked.

“No” James replied in a whisper.

“Then why is this any different”? Robbie said gently.

“Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears known, but how many people do you know that are scared of a thunderstorm sir”?

Before Robbie could answer the loud raw of thunder interrupted along with two flashes of lightening that made James tense up.

An idea suddenly popped into Robbie’s head of how he could take James’s mind off the storm.

“Give us that torch lad” Robbie said in his normal tone.

James hesitated but he did give Robbie the torch and he placed it in the middle of the coffee table.

“Look here lad” was all Robbie allowed himself to say. James looked at him with a confused facial expression.

Robbie turned the torch so that the light it provided faced the wall. He got his index and middle finger to make two ears come up on the wall.

James looked at Robbie with a hint of a smile before saying “A rabbit that was so obvious that it was almost painful” James said with what was now a smirk.

“Alright let’s get those clogs in your brain moving, what’s this then “Robbie said in mock irritation.

Robbie positioned his hands so it would make two wing gestures on the wall.

James let out a small smile before saying “that’s a bird” James stated. “You really are rubbish at this kind of thing” James added in plain mockery.

“I haven’t done this since the kids were little” was Robbie’s reply.

After each man did a few more hand shadows Robbie could see that James was enjoying himself and not only that he had also saw a more fun side to James, he certainly wasn't the miserable, over educated sod that everybody in the nick talked about and possibly made fun of.

But most importantly all James’s thoughts and fears of the storm had been forgotten about.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was 4am and James had his head on Robbie’s shoulder snoring quietly while Robbie had his head on the arm of the sofa and he too was snoring but louder.

There was a clanking sound which woke up the two men, Robbie spotted something in the distance, and he nudged James to get him to look.

In the distance half the torch light was blocked by a shadow which neither man could even guess what it was.

“Is that you “? James asked quietly.

“Nope” Robbie replied which made James wonder what that shadow was.

Whatever it was it had now opened its mouth and showing its teeth in display. But still they couldn’t make out what it was.

Suddenly the lights came back on revealing that the ‘shadow’ was In fact Emily who had made both of the men jump at her unexpected appearance.

Emily looked at the two men as if she was saying _what’s the matter with you two? It’s only me._

At this point the two men laughed and James went to pick Emily up and switch the torch off.

“I think we can definitely say that Emily has won the shadow game” Robbie said casually.

Emily meowed to show her agreement.

Once James had sat back down on the sofa with Emily sprawled out on his lap he wanted to make sure that Robbie knew how much he had helped him tonight.

“Robbie I just wanted to thank you for... being there for me” James said in a soft low voice.

“Don’t mention it James was Robbie’s gentle reply.

Pretending to be asleep Emily thought to herself _true friendship is when you’re alone in the dark; you can count on your real friends to shine a light to help you through the darkness._


	4. Love is the best medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James is ill and needs looking after, but who will look after if him if Robbie can’t?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have minor edits to this as I had spotted a few errors. If you spot anymore please tell me.

Emily had been worrying about James all day. It had started that very morning when James had come down stairs coughing constantly and complaining about having a pounding headache.

Emily meowed as if she was trying to show her sympathy.

James then let out a huge sneeze that made Emily jump off the sofa; she gave him a look that said _for heaven sake your sneezes are powerful enough to cause the whole building to collapse!_

When James had seen Emily’s cross facial expression he apologised while sniffing. Emily looked as if she was wincing at how blocked up James sounded.

James had then told her he was going to work. Before he left Emily looked as if she was rolling her eyes at the fact that James was more interested in doing his job rather than his own health.

It had suddenly occurred to Emily that maybe one of the reasons why James was going into work despite his ill health was because he wanted to see Robbie. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it was the truth as Emily knew how important Robbie is to him.

 _Nowhere near as important as I am of course_ Emily thought to herself.

Two hours after James had left for work, Emily heard a car being parked in James’s driveway. At first she thought that it was all in her imagination as James never came back from work this early. Her first thought was proved wrong when she started to hear distant voices coming from near the front door, these were voices she recognised.

As the front door was suddenly unlocked she was welcome by James and his body heaving cough followed by Robbie and a female person. Emily wasn’t a fan of having strangers in her house.

Emily meowed as if she was asking _why are you back so early?_ Her attention had now turned to the female person Emily wasn’t familiar with. _Who is that?_ Emily thought to herself as Robbie and the female person were helping James to sit on the sofa.

While Emily was pretending to be asleep she had heard Robbie and the female person who Emily now knew was Laura.

Emily had also overheard Robbie telling James that he needed to rest and he didn’t expect to see him at work until he was feeling better.

They soon left after the short conversation. Robbie would have stayed with James but he had a double murder case on his hands which he couldn’t just pass on to someone else.

Robbie's _excuse_ had left Emily feeling angry and disappointed with Robbie as he was the one that James depended on most of the time.

 _I’ll just have to look after James myself,_ Emily thought to herself.

Once Emily was certain that there wasn’t going to be any more interruptions, she jumped on James’s lap and meowed loudly at him as if she was telling him to go to bed.

After prodding James’s leg several times, James stood up and mumbled “Alright Emily I’m going to bed”.

Happy that James seemed to have understood her message, Emily followed him upstairs as if she was checking that James was going to do what he said he was doing.

When Emily had reached the top step she noticed that the toilet door was shut, she immediately went over to the door and scratched it as if she was saying _oi! Why aren’t you in bed?_

After James had come out from the toilet, Emily followed him to the bathroom while watching him wash and dry his hands.

She then followed him into the kitchen and watched him get a glass of water. Emily followed James back upstairs and that was when James noticed that she kept following him.

“Why are you following me”? James asked sounding tired and grumpy.

Emily gave him a soft meow as a reply which could have meant _I just want you in bed and to stay in bed, if that’s possible._

James opened his bedroom door and before he knew it Emily had rushed in the second after James.

“You just won’t give up will you”? James said softly.

 _Nope,_ was Emily’s short thought.

James slid into the duvet , letting out a small groan before Emily jumped on him and curled up on top of the duvet cover as if she was making sure that he was going to stay in bed.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Emily was woken up by the sound of muttering coming from James. She held her paw up to his forehead as if she was feeling his head for a fever.

When she noticed that he felt warmer than usual , her first thought was that James might be thirsty. She jumped on to the small table that stood next to James’s bed and moved the glass of water closer to him.

When James didn’t notice Emily thought that he might be needing some medicine. The only thing that resembled to medicine were these tablets she found next to the glass of water. She looked at the medicine bottle that the tablets were in, she managed to tip the bottle sideways so that a tablet popped out of it. She moved the tablet and tapped her paw on the table to get James’s attention.

The only reaction she got was James turning around so that his damp back was facing her. It was at that moment when Emily realised that it wasn’t medicine he needed, it was something that no tablet could give him.

Emily gently went back over to where she had been sleeping before she had heard James’s muttering which was getting louder. She walked up to James’s chest , settled down silently and moved her paw up to James’s cheek and rubbed it as if she was trying to sooth him.

To her surprise James did start to calm down, Emily began to purr as well as dragging the duvet closer to James to help with the process of settling him back into a peaceful sleep.

The muttering suddenly stopped along with the earlier tossing and turning. Emily got up and lay closer to James, nuzzling her head near his neck, purring softly.

Before going to sleep Emily thought to herself _love is the best and most powerful medicine you can get._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now going to be on holiday as from tomorrow so I will leave you with this chapter until August.


	5. If I could be where you are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily has always wondered what it’s like where Hathaway works. Little does he know that one day Emily takes her plan into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from an idea by Owlbsurfinbird which I have taken in my hands to create something good and hopefully worthy of reading.

Emily had often thought and questioned about what James did while he was at work.

_Was it fun working there? Or is it tedious and boring?_

_Surely it isn’t that bad working there seeing as that is where he spends most of his time._

_Wouldn’t it make his day if I unexpectedly turned up to where he works?_

_He would definitely love that!_

Emily purred loudly to show that her plan would go ahead the next day

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following morning Emily yawned, stretched and let out a happy meow as she still had her plan in her head, which was going to come true later on.

Emily did her usual morning routine by meowing in James’s ear until he could no longer stand it, which would get him out of bed in seconds. But today of all days it seemed to take longer for James to get up.

Her constant meowing may work for helping James get out of bed, it didn’t when it came to breakfast. He seemed to be eating slower the usual and to be taking twice as long to get dressed for work.

 _He’s not ill again is he?_ Was Emily’s first worrying thought. That very thought had vanished when James had come down the stairs with a small smile for Emily.

Emily gave him a loud, cheerful meow in return as if she was saying _good you’re here, come on off to work!_

As James went out the front door and into his car, Emily followed him as if she wanted to say _have a nice day, I’ll see you later._

However James didn’t leave straight away as he had forgotten his black suit jacket. For a minute it had left Emily annoyed, suddenly Emily saw that James had left his car door open. An idea of how Emily would get to where James works had popped into her mind.

Emily stared at the open car door as if she was debating whether she should sneak into the car or not.

Without wanting to waste another second, Emily jumped on to the driver’s seat then scrabbled her way into the back of the car under the back seats. _He won't even know I'm there_ was Emily's short and snappy thought.

James then locked the front door, went back into the car and drove off without knowing that Emily was in the back of the car looking proud with herself.

On the journey there Emily carefully peaked out of the window just enough so she could see what was going on outside without James noticing her.

Not having a clue of how long the journey would be , she could see so many people rushing around on bicycles, just as many cars that were zooming down the road and twice the amount of people walking about and chatting.

 _How can anyone do any work with this level of noise?_ Was Emily’s short and confused thought.

Out of the blue a police car drove past which made the jumpiness in Emily’s body stop. _That’s a sign; I must be close by now._ Emily thought to herself happily.

Soon enough after a few minutes more of nonstop moving in the car Emily had seen the Thames Valley police station.

As James pulled up to the police station ,Emily’s eyes widened which could have meant _bloody hell this place is huge, this **must** be a good job to have!_

An hour after James had shut the car door and gone into the building Emily looked out of the window properly to find there was one that was left open just enough for Emily to squeeze out.

It had been a very tight squeeze as at one point Emily thought she would have got stuck. Fortunately for Emily her power to slink through any tiny gap had helped her get through the tough space of window that she had.

Emily looked around the outside of the building as if she was amazed.

Before thinking of entering the building, Emily soon noticed that there were just as many people walking around as there were on the streets. There was absolutely no way that Emily would be able to go into the building without being noticed.

An idea had suddenly popped into Emily’s head; she cautiously walked over to the left side of the building and looked to see if there were any windows that were open, preferably with no one in the room.

After searching for a couple of minutes she had found an open window to fit through. The only problem was that there was someone currently in the room. The person had grey hair and obvious wrinkles and whoever it was it certainly wasn’t James or Robbie for that matter.

Luckily the man soon left after being called to a chief superintendents office _what ever that was ._ Emily then climbed up the window and slid through, landing clumsily on her paws.

Emily walked up the table that the man had just been sitting at and looked at the computer that was sitting on the table.

Emily suddenly became interested and jumped on to the table where the computer was. She stared at the monitor then the keyboard, fascinated by the amount of buttons there were to press.

Emily slowly got one of her paws and pressed a button on the keyboard which to Emily was fantastic. Unknown to Emily her tail nudged the computer mouse, which made Emily more interested in the computer.

To show her interest she went over to the computer screen and started scratching at it with her paw, unaware of the scratch marks she had left on the screen.

Getting bored of the screen Emily went back to the keyboard. After pressing a few more buttons she let out a small meow which could have meant _this is fun!_ She carried on pressing buttons until she took it to a whole new level by rolling across the keyboard, purring as if she was enjoying the noise that the buttons on the keyboard made.

What Emily had failed to notice was a paper cup of coffee near the keyboard. As she kept rolling on the keyboard the cup of coffee was wobbling every time Emily rolled over to the right. Suddenly the coffee got knocked over and got spilt all over the keyboard as well as drenching Emily in what was now cold coffee. She jumped back as if she was saying _yuck! What on earth was that, and it’s all over me._

Emily had spent a fair amount of five minutes of cleaning her fur, to get rid of the disgusting liquid that had gone all over her.

Emily made a disgusted facial expression after cleaning the coffee out of her fur, hating the foul taste the Coffee had left behind.

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming from the corridor; Emily leaped off the desk and hid behind the computer chair hoping that no one would find her.

After the footsteps had appeared to have stopped, Emily cautiously peaked through a tiny gap of the door to see if anyone was coming.

When she was confident that there was no one about she stepped out of the room , she looked back at the coffee that was now dripping off the keyboard.  _Well it wasn't really my fault , it's a stupid place to put it anyway_ was Emily's last thought about that particular room.

While walking in the corridor for two minutes, Emily decided to check doors to see if it was the one she was determined to find. She looked at various doors carefully before taking her pick at which door could be the one to her destination.

Bored of deciding which door could be the possible route for James’s room, Emily decided to try out her luck and peak through one of the doors.

Emily got her paw and made herself push the door a tiny fraction to see if she had made the right choice. She peaked through the gap she had made for herself; she instantly noticed that this room was not like the other room she had previously been in. This room looked dirtier and smelt differently, pushing the door a tiny bit more it was soon clear to Emily what was behind that door as she saw someone who let’s just say didn’t look very professional at that moment.

To Emily’s dismay she looked up at the door to soon find out that she had stumbled near the men’s toilet, she immediately took her paw off the door, her eyes widening in complete disgust and horror.

She took one last look at the door as if she was saying _ugh! That was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen!_

Desperately trying to forget about the incident, Emily continued to wander around the corridor more desperate to find the room that James seemed to spend half his life in.

After searching through a few more doors she was finally confident that she was about to pick the right door. She got her paw to open the door a little bit so she could see if she was right. Emily’s green eyes brightened up when she vividly saw the photo of Robbie and his wife, as she knew that James and Robbie shared an office.

She ran into the room making a trill noise as if she was proud of herself for achieving her goal of the day.

Exploring the room Emily looked disappointed when she saw that the room looked the same as all the other offices did. When she spotted the computer she meowed as if she was saying _oh no not another one!_

This time as she walked past the computer on what Emily could make out was James’s desk she noticed that the computer mouse was hanging by the wire it was attached too. Letting out another trill noise Emily looked at the mouse suspiciously before swatting it with her paw, playing with the mouse to Emily was the most amount of fun she had had all day but why they called it mouse was a mystery to her.

Out of blue a little spider scuttled across the floor which caught Emily’s sudden attention. She teared herself away from the mouse to sneak up on the spider, as if she wanted to get rid of it. Emily’s memory took her back to when she last saw a spider, which was the day when she had never seen James so petrified in her life. If she hasn’t have caught that spider when she did she could have sworn that James would have ran out of the house like a comet.

 _So it’s only fair that I get rid of the intruder_ Emily thought to herself.

Seeing the spider scuttling on the floor Emily’s eyes were glued to the spider and was preparing herself to pounce on it.

Before she could get her pounce into action, the spider crawled up one of the table legs of the desk then on to the desk itself. Without thinking Emily pounced on to the desk, missing the spider completely which caused a mountain of paperwork flying off the desk.

Ashamed that she couldn’t find the spider, she went back to the scattered pile of paperwork that was now covering most of the floor. Emily flipped on of the papers around to see what was on it. Her first thought towards the paperwork was _it all looks so complicated, how can anyone enjoy this?_

 _Or maybe it wasn’t supposed to be fun_ was Emily second thought.

Continuing to explore the office the spider made a return, which had caught Emily’s eye but this time the spider went near the computer wires. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice Emily planned out her pounce.

Unknown to the spider Emily made her attack but unfortunately for her she had forgotten all about the wires near the computer and got herself tangled up. The spider scuttled off as if it was saying _ha ha you can’t catch me!_

What Emily also wasn’t aware of was that several doors away Jean Innocent had heard the crashes and noise that was going on in Lewis and Hathaway’s office. After getting annoyed with hearing the constant noise Jean got up and went to investigate.

She was then stood outside the office door and took a peek inside; she immediately saw a black fluffy tail poking out from under Hathaway’s desk.

Jean went into the office to figure out what was under the desk. By this time Emily had heard the footsteps that were coming in to the office; at first she thought that it was James. But these footsteps sounded feminine; as she listened closer she knew that those were footsteps she didn’t recognise.

The footsteps were getting closer to where Emily was hiding. Jean went over to the Hathaway’s desk and looked under the desk, startling Emily which caused one of paws to tug at the wire therefore unplugging it from the computer box.

Jean sighed before getting Emily untangled from the wires and carrying her to her office, Emily was slightly shaking , scared that she would send her back to the blue cross or worse just thrown on to the streets.

Emily’s worries soon calmed down when the women had placed her on to the floor of her office before picking up the phone. Emily couldn’t make out who she was talking to until she heard a familiar name. That name was James as the women had asked him and Robbie to return to the office so she could have a word with them.

While waiting for James Emily jumped on to the window and decided to watch all the people either walking or cycling on the streets.

The door then opened which made Emily jump off the window and sit on the floor not in view of the two men that walked through the door who she soon recognised as James and Robbie.

“Hello gentlemen there is a reason why I wanted to see you at my office” Jean said in a calm voice.

“Ma’am?” both men asked at the same time.

“It’s looks like someone else wanted to help you with your investigation” Jean replied. Both men looked confused.

Jean turned around and picked Emily up in her arms, then turned back round to face the two men.

“Emily?” James asked still confused.

“Yes I think she decided that you two must have needed help with your latest case, but how she got in your office I don’t know but I will leave that mystery to you”.

“Yes ma’am” James said slightly embarrassed.

“Just be grateful I’m nice” Jean said before the two men and Emily who was now in James’s arms left the office.

Back at James and Robbie’s office he was horrified at the mess Emily had left, after spending the next twenty or so minutes tidying up James told Robbie that he was going home to get Emily’s cage.

As soon as James left Emily was alone in the office was only Robbie for company.

Suddenly the spider made its final return as Emily meowed at it to get Robbie’s attention. Robbie turned around to see a spider scuttle across the floor. Emily was about to swat at it when Robbie removed the spider and said “Let’s get rid of the evidence before James gets back”. Robbie turned back around and disposed of the spider through the window.

Emily looked at Robbie as if she was saying _that was completely unnecessary, I could have handled it!_ Soon afterwards she meowed, showing her agreement.

A bit later James had returned with the cage, before he put Emily in it he said “Well sir the mystery of how Emily got here is solved”.

“How?” Robbie asked.

“She must have sneaked into my car this morning; there’s cat fur all over the backseat” James replied.

Robbie chuckled then said “Come on, home James”.

As Emily was traveling home she thought to herself _even though police can be hard at times, if you have someone to share the pain with, it becomes that little bit easier._

 

However the next day James checked his car several times before leaving for work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first chapter since I have been away on holiday. I do hope you like it :)


	6. Fly me away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fly returns to cause more havoc for Emily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when James isn't looking.

It was early in the evening when James had got back from work, Emily could tell that he was exhausted just by the way he spoke.

After having a brief dinner, James had fallen asleep on his brown leather chair with Emily curled up on his lap.

However after only half an hour of sleeping, Emily was woken up and instantly alert when she heard a faint buzzing sound, which only got louder.

Emily looked around the living room as if she was in danger. When she heard the buzzing sound get nearer and louder, her ears pricked up and carefully listened to where the sound was coming from.

She found out soon enough when a fly flew right up to her nose, making her sneeze and glare at the fly as if she was saying _your back again eh?_

The fly kept buzzing and flying around which drove Emily crazy as her eyes were following the fly along with her paw trying to swat at it every time the fly came near her.

After a couple of minutes of staring at the fly which was perched on the coffee table, Emily pounced and the fly escaped from her paws onto the window.

Unfortunately the fruit bowl wasn’t so lucky as when Emily pounced onto the coffee table, the fruit bowl went flying therefore causing it to get smashed along with all the fruit rolling across the floor.

Emily looked at the clutter of fruit as if she was thinking _it shouldn’t have been in my way!_

Emily decided to be smarter with her next attack on the fly. She stood on the coffee table, her eyes glued on the fly, not wanting it to have another victorious escape.

As soon as she heard the fly buzzing, her ears became alert and her paws which were now on James’s chest were pressing into him.

Unexpectedly James turned to his left which made Emily slightly loose her balance, she stared at him as if she wanted to say _will you stop moving, I’m trying to get a clear view of this creature that’s lurking on the window._

Suddenly Emily’s eyes were drawn back to the fly as she saw it wriggle on the window. She jumped up onto James’s shoulder before sitting on it like a parrot. All Emily did for a while was stare at the fly as if she was planning her next attack; her evil stare was almost saying _you caused me enough trouble last time!_

It was almost as if the fly had known what Emily was thinking as it started moving on the window, making it dirty. The fly then began to buzz again but only this time it seemed to be able to increase the volume, which made Emily look cross.

While watching every move the fly made, James began to mumble in his sleep which irritated Emily even more. She gave him a stare which said _be quiet, I can’t hear the fly!_

Once James’s mumbling had stopped, the fly’s buzzing began again. This time Emily wasn’t prepared to wait as she leaped on to window sill and hit the fly with her swishing paw. It would have been a good hit if it wasn’t for the fact that the fly flew away which Emily then followed.

The real problem with Emily’s sudden urge to follow the fly was that Emily wasn’t aware of the vase of flowers that James had picked from the garden. This was soon to be known to Emily as when she jumped off the window sill to squish the fly that had flown to the wall, her tail knocked the vase off the window sill and the flowers along with the water went down James’s back, causing him to spring up from his chair and shout “ugh!” loud enough for the neighbor's to hear.

It all went silent for a minute and in that silence Emily was satisfied that the fly had been defeated.

Emily then turned to face James who had his mouth wide open and staring at Emily in horror and confusion.

Emily just walked off; she looked behind her before leaving as if she was thinking _it’s not my fault._

Robbie was going to love this when he found out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter probably doesn't make sense but it doesn't really have a plot, its just one of James's memories about Emily .


	7. Winter Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Emily was sat by the window, watching the snow gently falling to the ground as her mind went back to her winter memories. ___

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final part of the work!  
> With this chapter it is important to know that the writing in italics are Emily's memories.  
> I hope you enjoy this final chapter.  
> Sorry made minor edits, again.

Emily was sat by the window, watching the snow gently falling to the ground as her mind went back to her winter memories.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_It was a cold Christmas Eve; the window was lightly covered in snowflakes which Emily had spent at least half of the day watching and loving the peaceful feeling it brought to her heart._

_Even though it looked wonderful outside, Emily had no idea what snow was or what it was like._

_Getting curious about the snow that had settled on the ground where the grass usually was, Emily strolled down the stairs quietly to match the atmosphere to be welcomed to the sight of James nursing a bottle of wine._

_All of a sudden Emily noticed that James looked lost in his own loneliness. Emily’s eyes darted around the room until she saw the lack of presents which were under the tree. That had given Emily a wonderful idea which would not only cure her curiosity about the snow but would also be able to give James a token of how much she appreciated him._

_Emily then shot off out the cat flap to get on with her plan._

_Emily froze in her tracks as she was right up close to the snow that she soon had to step on in order to catch that present. Emily bent her head down and sniffed the snow cautiously, just in case the snow turned out to be something dangerous. She then lifted one paw and softly touched the snow; she leapt back when she felt that it was cold and wet. Her facial expression was almost shouting out, ugh this feels weird!_

_Emily was then snapped out of her thoughts when a trio of birds were flying in the sky and gliding towards the tree. It was at that moment when Emily’s present had arrived which she couldn’t wait to give to James._

_Completely forgetting about the snow Emily was about to run up to the tree until her paws became cold which reminded her that the snow was still there. Emily hissed and ran towards the cat flap, ashamed at the fact that James might not get anything because of her cowardliness._

_Emily’s eyes went darker at the determination that she was going to get that present for James no matter if it did cost her paws. Emily then sped across the snowy grass and scrabbled over the fence to the next door neighbor's garden where the tree was that the birds landed on. Her eyes were fixed on the tree, waiting for the birds to make their unlucky escape. She was stood there for ten minutes before she heard loud tweeting from the birds which made Emily’s ears perk up._

_By this time it was getting noticeably darker which meant that Emily had no time to waste if she was going to get that present in time for Christmas. Emily gracefully jumped on to the wooden table that was just opposite the tree therefore getting a much clearer view of the birds._

_Emily’s ears perked up again as she heard rustling and more tweeting coming from the birds in the tree. A few minutes later the birds tweeting got louder and the rustling became more frequent. Suddenly Emily saw part of a wing which was the signal for her to attack the birds. Emily shot off, knocking over the pot plants like bowling pins off the table. As Emily ran noisily up to the tree, the three birds all flew out of the tree. Emily followed them everywhere they went, not giving up on the present that James deserved._

_However Emily soon got lucky as one of the birds flew down and slipped when it was supposed to land on the fence, therefore falling over the other side. Soon enough Emily was face to face with the bird, the bird took one last look at Emily before its vision being cut short as Emily stabbed it in its back._

_Feeling proud of herself Emily picked up the bird in her mouth which she carried all the way back inside. She dropped the bird on the kitchen floor and poked her head around the door to see that James was gone. Her eyes soon looked at the ceiling as the mystery of where James had got to was quickly solved._

_Before Emily went to join him, she got the bird in her mouth and walked lightly over to the Christmas tree. She knocked one of the presents over to make room for her present for James. Emily carefully dropped the bird near the Christmas tree and ran upstairs._

_However the next morning, the present that Emily had left for James had mysteriously vanished._

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With her gaze still on the window, Emily's eyes took her to a particular spot of grass that brought her back to her next memory.

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_After finishing her breakfast Emily had noticed that James was pacing in the living room, she went up to him and rubbed herself on one of his long legs as if she had been telling him to stop._

_Emily jumped up onto the sofa and claimed her seat by stretching out so her tummy was on show. When James kept pacing Emily meowed softly, as if she was asking who he was waiting for._

_James went up to Emily and tickled her tummy while explaining that he was waiting for Robbie as he thought that James shouldn’t be alone with only a bottle of wine for company. Emily turned on James as if she was saying, Oi you had me, I have a bone to pick with Robbie when he comes!_

_Around half an hour later the doorbell rang which startled Emily and James; Emily looked as if she was getting ready to give Robbie a telling off._

_When Robbie walked into the living room he tickled Emily behind the ears before fishing something out of his coat pocket._

_“Here you go Emily” Robbie said cheerfully as he handed Emily a catnip toy, soon enough Emily was all over the toy completely forgetting her plan to tell Robbie off._

_When Emily had finally got bored of the toy, she heard shouting in the distance which she soon figured out that it was coming from the garden._

_“Don’t you throw that” was the first thing that Emily had heard when she stepped into the garden to see Robbie and James throwing snowballs at each other._

_Emily carefully entered what she called a war zone, not expecting the snow ball that accidentally hit her in the face that got covered in snow._

_Emily shook all the snow off her face and gave James an evil look._

_“Sorry Emily” James chuckled before walking over to stroke her head._

_Emily’s stare was still fixed on James as if she wanted revenge._

_Once the two had gone in for a while, Emily thought that it would be the perfect time to get her revenge on James._

_She went over to where the two men had previously been; Emily got her paw and made a small pile of snow as if she was creating a snowball herself. She then wandered off to the far corner of the garden to where she had a small space that was used to put all her souvenirs of successful hunts. She picked out a little dead mouse that she had caught less than a week ago and carried it in her mouth to stuff in the pile of snow, hoping that James would be unfortunate enough to step in._

_However Emily couldn’t have predicted that her plan would have gone any differently._

_A while later the two men had returned to their snowball fight that James had started. Emily meowed as if she was saying, come over here James there is lots of snow to use!_

_Instead Robbie kept stepping back a step at a time as the snowball fight continued. Emily was aware that Robbie was getting nearer the trap that Emily had made for James, but what was about to happen was something that Emily would never forget._

_Robbie was a foot away from the trap when he bent down and picked up the bit of snow that had the dead mouse in, Emily meowed loudly hoping that Robbie would put the snow down. However Robbie ignored Emily’s meow and threw the snowball, Emily bent down and covered her eyes with her paws not wanting to see the aftermath._

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Emily was shaken out of her memories when she felt James stroke the top of her head which Emily responded to by purring loudly.

If she had to have a favourite winter memory then this winter would be the one.

Now that Emily was old she felt that she knew the deeper meanings of life. Emily looked at James as if she was thinking, _the biggest thing I have learned from living with James is that I have learned to appreciate the important things in life. Life doesn’t have to be about being popular or having the largest amount of money, the thing that I treasure is the time I spend with James._

Emily then went over to James and jumped onto his lap, rubbing her face against his before curling up on her side of the sofa ,resting her head on James’s thigh and enjoying the calm atmosphere of silence .

To Emily this is what makes memories worth remembering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GiffGaff say's that this may be silly but if you like you can tell us which chapter was your favourite, guests are welcome to take part in this as well.


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